TAUNTON — The angry slamming of a gavel and accusations of falsehoods punctuated the air Tuesday night during this week’s City Council meeting.

The point of contention stemmed from discussion of the Redi-Mix Services concrete-manufacturing and stone-crushing plant at 120R Berkley St.

Complaints from neighbors of late-night and early-morning noise, excessive dust and bone-jarring vibrations surfaced in the spring of 2016 — four years after Gilbert Lopes Jr. and Gregory Keelan bought the former McCabe Sand and Gravel Co. business from Bob Murphy.

Lopes and Keelan, who eventually parted ways, dramatically revitalized the quarry-like concrete operation, in part, due to a contract that year to provide tons of concrete to an Amazon distribution center being built in Freetown.

Former Taunton city solicitor David Gay, who represented Murphy when he sold the business, appeared in front of the City Council last September to read and explain a letter submitted by Murphy.

Murphy, in his letter, said he had never conducted so-called earth removal and as such did not require a special permit.

City records indicate the last time an earth-removal permit was issued there was in 1981.

Gay that night also emphasized, and concurred with councilman AJ Marshall, that the City Council lacks the authority to issue a cease and desist order.

A letter submitted by Lopes that night promised that he would curtail some hours of operation and make a greater effort to minimize concrete dust that might blow onto neighboring properties.

City ordinance forbids the company from operating from 1 a.m to 4 a.m., although some residents claimed Redi-Mix willfully violated that restriction.

Joseph Tutsch, vice president of Taunton-based G. Lopes Construction Inc., appeared irritated Tuesday night, after one of three Berkley Street residents at the meeting took the public-input mic to say the neighborhood was still beset by noise, dust and too much traffic.

“When was the last time we were open from one to four (a.m.)?” Tutsch challenged her.

The brief interchange came after Building Department inspector Robert Pirozzi told the council he’d spent three days in late March and early April, from the hours of 1 a.m. to 3:30 a.m., to observe whether the Lopes-owned operation was open for business.

Pirozzi, who was investigating a zoning complaint from neighbors, said he “saw no activity.”

He also said the site manager assured him a “watering truck” would be used on concrete trucks to mitigate concrete-dust levels.

Tutsch said it’s been seven months since Redi-Mix operated very early in the morning, and he said it never happened from 1 a.m. to 4 a.m.

“It is a farce,” he said, regarding any such allegation.

“It’s been over a year (since former partner Keelan was involved), and everything’s different now,” Tutsch said. “I don’t want to take anymore of people saying we’re open from one to four (a.m.).”

The hearing took a volatile turn when city councilor John McCaul declared on behalf of residents living near the concrete plant that “we’ve had enough.”

McCaul claimed while visiting a family living next to Redi-Mix Services he observed concrete dust being blown into the yard when a truck was hosed down.

“C’mon, what do you mean?” Tutsch angrily declared, to which McCaul replied: “Don’t tell me what I saw.”

Tutsch also accused McCaul of trying to curry votes in next November’s election by making such statements.

McCaul then firmly protested when council president Daniel Dermody —who shortly beforehand said that “to say this has thoroughly been vetted is an understatement” — attempted to give the floor to another councilor.

“Excuse me, I still have the floor,” McCaul twice said.

When McCaul chastised Dermody, claiming he should be aware of what’s been going on at Redi-Mix since Dermody lives “across the street,” the council president exploded and violently slammed his gavel.

Councilor Jeanne Quinn said “things have definitely improved” at the Berkley Street site.

She also recommended that any aggrieved party not satisfied with current conditions submit their complaint to the zoning board of appeals, which either can overturn or affirm Pirozzi’s assessment but cannot make a recommendation to the council.

McCaul later said he followed Tutsch — who was accompanied by Redi-Mix Services manager Mark Hampston and Lopes Construction attorney John Zajak — outside the building, after Tutsch allegedly called McCaul a “(bleeping) buffoon” as he walked past him in council chambers.

Tutsch at one point outside told McCaul: “You just want votes.”

“That’s bull (expletive),” McCaul countered.

After the two cooled down and McCaul walked back into the building — perhaps, in part, because Mayor Thomas Hoye Jr. and police safety officer Chris Williams came outside to gently intercede — Tutsch seemed slightly more forgiving.

“I have all the respect in the world for John as a councilor, but I’m not going to let him grandstand and slander me on (local cable) TV,” Tutsch said.

City Solicitor Jason D. Buffington also submitted a letter stating that case studies he reviewed and legislative law indicate that earth removal, in terms of ordinance, does not include the mere transfer of materials.

Buffington’s letter also noted that the city council has “no role whatsoever” in determining if a business is complying with zoning law.

He stated that an aggrieved party, if dissatisfied with the building inspector’s assessment, can appeal to the city’s zoning board and eventually even bring the case either to the state Superior Court or Land Court.

McCaul and Gerald Croteau were the only councilors voting in favor of an unsuccessful motion to seek an opinion on the matter from the zoning board of appeals.